10 I am disgusted with my life.(A)
I will give vent to my complaint
and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
I will say to God,
“Do not declare me guilty!
Let me know why you prosecute me.
Is it good for you to oppress,
to reject the work of your hands,(B)
and favor[a] the plans of the wicked?(C)
Do you have eyes of flesh,
or do you see as a human sees?
Are your days like those of a human,
or your years like those of a man,(D)
that you look for my iniquity(E)
and search for my sin,
even though you know that I am not wicked
and that there is no one who can rescue from your power?(F)

“Your hands shaped me and formed me.(G)
Will you now turn and destroy me?
Please remember that you formed me like clay.
Will you now return me to dust?(H)
10 Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and wove me together with bones and tendons.(I)
12 You gave me life and faithful love,
and your care has guarded my life.

13 “Yet you concealed these thoughts in your heart;
I know that this was your hidden plan:[b]
14 if I sin, you would notice,[c]
and would not acquit me of my iniquity.(J)
15 If I am wicked, woe to me!
And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head.
I am filled with shame(K)
and have drunk deeply of[d] my affliction.(L)
16 If I am proud,[e] you hunt me like a lion
and again display your miraculous power against me.(M)
17 You produce new witnesses[f] against me
and multiply your anger toward me.
Hardships assault me, wave after wave.[g]

18 “Why did you bring me out of the womb?(N)
I should have died and never been seen.
19 I wish[h] I had never existed
but had been carried from the womb to the grave.(O)
20 Are my days not few? Stop it![i]
Leave me alone, so that I can smile a little
21 before I go to a land of darkness and gloom,(P)
never to return.
22 It is a land of blackness like the deepest darkness,
gloomy and chaotic,
where even the light is like[j] the darkness.”

Footnotes

  1. 10:3 Lit shine on
  2. 10:13 Lit was with you
  3. 10:14 Lit notice me
  4. 10:15 Or and look at
  5. 10:16 Lit If he lifts up
  6. 10:17 Or You bring fresh troops
  7. 10:17 Lit Changes and a host are with me
  8. 10:19 Lit As if
  9. 10:20 Alt Hb tradition reads Will he not leave my few days alone?
  10. 10:22 Lit chaotic, and shines as

Job Continues: A Plea to God

10 “I (A)loathe my life;
I will give free utterance to my (B)complaint;
    I will speak in (C)the bitterness of my soul.
I will say to God, Do not (D)condemn me;
    let me know why you (E)contend against me.
(F)Does it seem good to you to oppress,
    to despise (G)the work of your hands
    (H)and favor the designs of the wicked?
Have you (I)eyes of flesh?
    (J)Do you see as man sees?
Are your days as the days of man,
    or your (K)years as a man's years,
that you (L)seek out my iniquity
    and search for my sin,
although you (M)know that I am not guilty,
    and there is (N)none to deliver out of your hand?
(O)Your hands fashioned and made me,
    and now you have destroyed me altogether.
Remember that you have made me like (P)clay;
    and will you return me to the (Q)dust?
10 Did you not pour me out like milk
    and curdle me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh,
    and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 You have granted me life and steadfast love,
    and your care has preserved my spirit.
13 Yet these things you hid in your heart;
    I know that (R)this was your purpose.
14 If I sin, you (S)watch me
    and do not (T)acquit me of my iniquity.
15 (U)If I am guilty, woe to me!
    If I am (V)in the right, I cannot lift up my head,
for I am filled with disgrace
    and (W)look on my affliction.
16 And were my head lifted up,[a] you would hunt me like (X)a lion
    and again work (Y)wonders against me.
17 You renew your (Z)witnesses against me
    and increase your vexation toward me;
    you (AA)bring fresh troops against me.

18 (AB)“Why did you bring me out from the womb?
    Would that I had died before any eye had seen me
19 (AC)and were as though I had not been,
    carried from the womb to the grave.
20 (AD)Are not my days few?
    (AE)Then cease, and leave me alone, (AF)that I may find a little cheer
21 before I go—and (AG)I shall not return—
    to the land of (AH)darkness and (AI)deep shadow,
22 the land of gloom like thick darkness,
    like deep shadow without any order,
    where light is as thick darkness.”

Footnotes

  1. Job 10:16 Hebrew lacks my head